“O Essencial” (“The Essential”) – 89 x 116 cm, oil on canvas, 2010
Regarding the painting by Catarina Pinto Leite presented in this exhibit, one aspect which is immediately visible, and which holds great meaning, is that the artist has acquired a technical and mental skill for representation that not only provides her with maturity, in the form of recognition, but also with a great ability for self-criticism that obviously gives her independence, in the form of that essential condition to freely perform this work. The coherence is thus the same one we find throughout all of Catarina’s work, where a vigor identical to that of Turner stands out; the expansive and decisive gestures that mark the work will not retrocede, because the intuition is present since that supernatural moment of glancing onto the untouched canvas.
This time, the works presented are the object of an apparent minimalism resulting from the absence of color. But the dense dark tones and the lightness of the grey glazes express various depths. This intention gives way to the inner quality of these landscapes. Because these nocturnes originate in the most intimate of feelings and they are the expression of what the artist wants to share with us. The figures that stand out in the landscape, created by the original gesture, might be rocks, which in turn might be people, and they are also intentional waves, albeit oneiric, about the expression of inner life, about a night dreamed over and over. This idea also reflects the artist’s previous body of work, hence its relevance.
The landscape is now stripped of all intention of realistic nature, of all that is not essential. This transfiguration will allow all interpretations, opening up to a larger universe of abstraction. This might be its most important merit, that of communicating freely and generously, in a context of sharing, what few can express but many can recognize in their intimacy.
This is where the dialogue with the viewer will reside.
Martim Lapa
Lisbon, November 2010